Alligator form

You can order them from WASCO or McKenzie. On a 5 footer I would reccomend the fill method on a gator that small. Good Luck with what ever you decide.

 

you could also carve your form just take good measurements, just another option. good luck with your mount.

 

Psycho what do you mean by the fill method??

 

Kastaway sells three different videos on mounting gators. If your mounting one 7' or under I'd use the fill method on bigger ones you can use a form or carve one. The fill method is with vermiculite and works great in small gators

 

Thanks Bubba z.I have a 4-footer to mount I will give it a try.

 

The only reason I don't recommend carving forms is because you never know who you are dealing with or what their skill levels are. Not everyone can carve a form even though a gator is probably one of the easiest things you will ever carve. Because of that I do recommend the fill method.

I know Bubba already answered your "fill method" question but I will just expand on it a bit. Usually guys or gals will fill the feet with apoxie or clay up to the wrist/ankle of the leg and then fill a little of the leg at a time packing it tight using dowel rods of various sizes. The tail and rest of the body will be done the same way as well. I know a lot of new people get tired of us always saying, "buy the damn video", but one of the main reasons we say that is because the video is better than any written tutorial that we cold provide you with. You can always refer back and forth to all the videos and play them as you mount your critters. So having said that, next time one of us old grouch asses says buy the video take it with a grain of salt and when you do buy the video you can come back ans tell us how great our advise was because you love them! ;D I love to help people and honestly there are days where my phone seems to ring 100 times but in reality it only probably 20 to 30 times. ;D

Good luck on your projects all you scaly, creepy crawly loving bass turds. LOL

 

The fill methods works great on the smaller gators. It was pretty simple to do and had good results. Tom voyer comes up with some innovative ideas on reptiles.

 

any potters clay will do just fine for you.

 

Should do fine for you however I would recommend looking at the Badger Renegade series brushes. I us to have a Paashe and went to an Aztek. After that I went to an Iwata and now I am using a Badger. You may not have the same taste as me but to me they are the easiest brushes to use and give you some of the finest and most unique details. They have a tip coming out after the Word Show that works fantastic for Gators, or so I'm told. and that's all I can say for now. Dan

 

I know this is a old thread, but just found it searching and have a question. I have used the fill method on a small gator and turned out great. Why is it people say not to use it on larger gators? I have a 10 footer to do wanting to use the fill method. What are the disadvantages of doing it on larger gators?

 

I've tried every technique on alligators all sizes, the only issue I've encountered with the fill method on large gators has been controlling the material and this is true with foam also, an extra pair of hands definitely comes in handy, foam works well but you have to be careful on giving the anatomy a bloated look which is all to common, the best results I've ever had was carving my own body, I've also used a combination of commercial forms altered to my liking, which most will have to be anyway. Reference and time!
DC

 

mikelavine, remember how long it took you to do the fill method on a little gator? Now multiply that by a much larger number that seems fitting and realistic when dealing with a 10 footer. The fill method is easy, cheap and time consuming but I would call it anything but accurate. IMO you simply can not pack a gator tight enough and then position it and make it look as good as if you were to carve your own form. As far as commercial forms go, you can have ten, 10 foot gators in a row and not one of them would have the same leg nor girth measurements.

 

Thanks for the reply! Guess I'll start working on my carving skills!